New security system works to make Westside safer

The new year welcomes a lot of things, one of them being an updated security system for visitors to Westside. Hall supervisor Reese Baumgartner believes this system will be a lot safer and a more professional way to account for visitors leaving and entering the building.

Here’s how it works- once a visitor comes in, whoever is working in the main entrance scans their photo I.D.  This puts their name up on a computer screen so the staff member working at the entrance can identify who they are. The visitor then takes their picture and it registers them in the system.

“The picture makes it so if teachers see an unfamiliar face in the halls, they can compare it to the picture on the visitor badge,” Baumgartner said.

The system also allows for the check-in staff member to put notes about the visitor in their profile.

“We can put notes in saying where the visitor is supposed to be and who they are supposed to be with,” Baumgartner said. “If we know someone is not supposed to be in the building at a certain time, we can also put that in our notes. Everything we enter automatically saves.”

Once the visitor has left, they can scan out. However if they don’t, their pass automatically voids in eight hours so that everyone in the building is accounted for.
“Only downside is it takes forever to set up, but no one’s complained about that yet,” Baumgartner said. “It will definitely help make our school safer.”